Edmund Searlesfamily, and I devoted many pages to narrating these and other anx-
ieties about not getting the right kinds of data and not pursuing the
right types of informants and experiences. Shouldn’t I be surveying
hunters or documenting genealogies? Shouldn’t I be making the most
of this research time by determining average household expenditures
on hunting, identifying Inuktitut terms for various plants and ani-
mals, practicing grammar? Although I constantly wrestled with these
and other questions, I did receive steady support from my fiancée who
was also my research partner. Despite my misgivings, she convinced
me that every experience, large or small, is significant and within the
scope of ethnographic inquiry. This is perhaps one of the more ex-
hilarating and intriguing mysteries of ethnographic research; we of-
ten encounter the most significant insights and discoveries during the
most unlikely, mundane moments.
Considering we were living in a small, isolated town in the middle of
southern Baffin Island, just a couple hundred miles south of the Arctic
Circle, I was surprised to find the pool alive and crowded with enthu-
siastic and accomplished swimmers. Tukya and Noodloo, we soon dis-
covered, had already learned a couple of strokes, and they were soon
off on their own, playing with each other and friends. Levi, on the other
hand, was much more tentative, and although he was quick to enter
the pool, he was unwilling to leave the shallow end, where he could
stand on the pool’s bottom with his head entirely above water.
When I offered him a chance to cling to my back while we swam to
join his sisters, he reluctantly accepted my offer. I thought that pig-
gybacking him as I swam around the pool would inspire him to be-
come more comfortable away from the shallow end. But there were
other factors at work between Levi and me, for we had been strug-
gling with a rather tumultuous relationship. The first two months in
Mary Ellen’s home were difficult for me. Unfamiliar with the psycho-
logical complexities of Levi’s moods and habits, and unprepared for
his particular wrath, I was hopelessly unable to cope with Levi’s mis-
chief and moodiness. A familiar theme of my field notes at the time
was how much he prodded and poked various parts of my body, and
how helpless I felt in trying to make him stop. I was still harboring
guilt about losing my composure on several occasions. When Levi